Rudderless Ship – Pens LOSE 3-2 (OT)

The effort looked there at times, but the Penguins could not win again tonight losing 3-2 in overtime to a better than their standings place shows Norfolk Admirals team. The Penguins are 2-7-1-1 in December. The Admrials are 7-3-1 in December. Like two ships passing in the night going the opposite direction.

I can’t explain it. I don’t think anyone can right now. It seems like the team is a ship without a rudder and just going wherever the current takes it.

No captain. No sense of urgency. No effort on most nights. No wins to show.

I don’t know. I am not in the room and around the team at all. The time for, “get it together” is over.

Jeff Zatkoff vs. Igor Bobkov

First Period: Brian Gibbons throws a puck at the net and it slips by Bobkov for a quick 1-0 Penguins lead. First fifteen minutes or so, all Penguins. Final five minutes were all Norfolk. Shots this period were 11-7 Penguins.

Second Period: Norfolk must have adjusted to something because they owned this period. Chris Wagner deflects a Gabe Guentzel shot six minutes in. They continue to sail around the ice, pun intended. Penguins then get some offensive zone time. They manage no shots on goal at Bobkov. Then, a puck hops a stick and Admirals leading scorer Peter Holland skates in and scores on Zatkoff to make it 2-1. Somehow, someway, the Penguins tie the game late off a Jayson Megna stuff after a Pens faceoff win.

Third Period: Uneventful, really. Both teams had a chance at the power play but nothing became of it.

Overtime: :27 in, Benn Ferriero gets called for hooking in the neutral zone. This is after referee Geno Binda calls just two penalties in the third period and many he either missed or let slide. :27 later, Peter Holland feeds Patrick Maroon in the slot and Maroon buries it for the game winner.